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* ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'' had this going from ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' onward. You have various massive, long-term projects and monuments to construct that don't benefit your own city in ''any'' way, being often extreme resource sinks (even requiring importing all that stuff)... but you ''have to'' build them to finish the specific mission. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, since that's part of the fun of those games, but the point still stands: the projects you build have no practical application. This is probably best exemplified in [[VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom Emperor]]'', where you build things like sections of The Great Wall of China or The Grand Canal, but they don't work as actual fortifications nor open new trade routes.
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* ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'' had this going from ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' onward. You have various massive, long-term projects and monuments to construct that don't benefit your own city in ''any'' way, being often extreme resource sinks (even requiring importing all that stuff)... but you ''have to'' build them to finish the specific mission. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, since that's part of the fun of those games, but the point still stands: the projects you build have no practical application. This is probably best exemplified in [[VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom ''[[VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom Emperor]]'', where you build things like sections of The Great Wall of China or The Grand Canal, but they don't work as actual fortifications nor open new trade routes.
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* ''VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries'' had this going from ''VideoGame/{{Pharaoh}}'' onward. You have various massive, long-term projects and monuments to construct that don't benefit your own city in ''any'' way, being often extreme resource sinks (even requiring importing all that stuff)... but you ''have to'' build them to finish the specific mission. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, since that's part of the fun of those games, but the point still stands: the projects you build have no practical application. This is probably best exemplified in [[VideoGame/EmperorRiseOfTheMiddleKingdom Emperor]]'', where you build things like sections of The Great Wall of China or The Grand Canal, but they don't work as actual fortifications nor open new trade routes.
** A subset of those projects is using work camps - providing manual labourers for the construction - as a quick way to sink up a large amount of unemployment, even when you are not building anything at all. When you need that excess labour, you can always just remove the camps, while the wages come back via taxing and keeping crime rates low due to full employment, without overproducing any goods that would be impossible to trade away. This allows to finish various missions that come with very high population requirements without tanking your ratings due to high unemployment.
** A subset of those projects is using work camps - providing manual labourers for the construction - as a quick way to sink up a large amount of unemployment, even when you are not building anything at all. When you need that excess labour, you can always just remove the camps, while the wages come back via taxing and keeping crime rates low due to full employment, without overproducing any goods that would be impossible to trade away. This allows to finish various missions that come with very high population requirements without tanking your ratings due to high unemployment.
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* ''[[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt Blood And Wine]]'' expansion for ''The Witcher 3'' has a sidequest that gets Geralt involved in securing the construction of a religious monument. It is ultimately revealed as a money-laundering scam that went out of hand and was repurposed to keep a bunch of people on the payroll. The questline is a parody of a similar, real-life monument construction in Poland.
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* ''[[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt Blood The ''Blood And Wine]]'' Wine'' expansion for ''The Witcher 3'' ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' has a sidequest that gets Geralt involved in securing the construction of a religious monument. It is ultimately revealed as a money-laundering scam that went out of hand and was repurposed to keep a bunch of people on the payroll. The questline is a parody of a similar, real-life monument construction in Poland.
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* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', the Big Brother regime constantly builds things like monuments to both inspire mindless nationalism and to soak up excess resources. This is to keep living standards so low that the people are too worn down to resist.
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* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', the Big Brother regime constantly builds things like monuments to both inspire mindless nationalism and to soak up excess resources. This is to keep living standards so low that the people are too worn down to resist.
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* In the ''{{Literature/Retief}}'' story "Dam Nuisance", a local alien asks the [[{{Ambadassador}} eponymous hero]] for aid from the [[VastBureaucracy CDT]] to repair his house. However, Retief notes that the Corps is prohibited from building anything useful - the [[AssInAmbassador CDT experts]] believe that it would cause the aliens to lose self-esteem as a result. However, [[DeadpanSnarker Retief notes that the CDT is more than happy to construct something pointless should the need arise.]]
* The incredibly expensive, country-spanning Anti-Smite Shield commissioned by the British government in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series. It actually did serve a function: using up surplus government stupidity with one massive, incredibly stupid project.
* The incredibly expensive, country-spanning Anti-Smite Shield commissioned by the British government in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series. It actually did serve a function: using up surplus government stupidity with one massive, incredibly stupid project.
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* Stephen King's (as Richard Bachman) story ''{{Literature/Roadwork}}'' has as a final, depressing note on its epilogue that the titular construction (which was going to demolish the protagonist's home and caused much drama and a standoff) was one of these by the local government -- they needed to build a certain number of miles of road per year to avoid losing funding.
* ''Limes Inferior'' by Creator/JanuszZajdel has ''the entire global economy run like that'', solely for the sake of it, as part of [[spoiler: a BenevolentAlienInvasion. One of the stipulations made by the aliens was imposing their social norms, where masses are kept employed and stratified for the sake of public order, rather than producing anything of value or purpose]]. And the goal is to eventually just stop bothering with even that, once the population is sufficiently docile.
* In the ''{{Literature/Retief}}'' story "Dam Nuisance", a local alien asks the [[{{Ambadassador}} eponymous hero]] for aid from the [[VastBureaucracy CDT]] to repair his house. However, Retief notes that the Corps is prohibited from building anything useful - the [[AssInAmbassador CDT experts]] believe that it would cause the aliens to lose self-esteem as a result. However, [[DeadpanSnarker Retief notes that the CDT is more than happy to construct something pointless should the need arise.]]
* Stephen King's (as Richard Bachman) story ''{{Literature/Roadwork}}'' has as a final, depressing note on its epilogue that the titular construction (which was going to demolish the protagonist's home and caused much drama and a standoff) was one of these by the local government -- they needed to build a certain number of miles of road per year to avoid losing funding.
* The incredibly expensive, country-spanning Anti-Smite Shield commissioned by the British government in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series. It actually did serve a function: using up surplus government stupidity with one massive, incredibly stupid project.
* In the ''{{Literature/Retief}}'' story "Dam Nuisance", a local alien asks the [[{{Ambadassador}} eponymous hero]] for aid from the [[VastBureaucracy CDT]] to repair his house. However, Retief notes that the Corps is prohibited from building anything useful - the [[AssInAmbassador CDT experts]] believe that it would cause the aliens to lose self-esteem as a result. However, [[DeadpanSnarker Retief notes that the CDT is more than happy to construct something pointless should the need arise.]]
* Stephen King's (as Richard Bachman) story ''{{Literature/Roadwork}}'' has as a final, depressing note on its epilogue that the titular construction (which was going to demolish the protagonist's home and caused much drama and a standoff) was one of these by the local government -- they needed to build a certain number of miles of road per year to avoid losing funding.
* The incredibly expensive, country-spanning Anti-Smite Shield commissioned by the British government in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series. It actually did serve a function: using up surplus government stupidity with one massive, incredibly stupid project.
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* Something of this nature is discussed but doesn't actually happen in an episode of ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''. The local homeless shelter's kitchen catches fire and it will cost $40,000 to rebuild. Jennifer gets a bunch of wealthy Cincinnaitians together to donate the money, but they decide "why just rebuild the kitchen when we can build them a whole new shelter?" One man will donate a plot of land he has sitting around and a couple of others donate $150K for building it. Then the users of the shelter show up, and point out they don't need nor want a new building, especially not one in a distant suburb no one can get to via public transportation. What they need is to have the shelter's kitchen rebuilt.
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* Something In ''Series/{{Benson}}'', federal auditors discover an unexpected budget surplus of this nature is discussed but doesn't actually happen in an episode of ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''. The local homeless shelter's kitchen catches fire $8 million and it insist that the state spend that money or their federal distribution will cost $40,000 to rebuild. Jennifer gets a bunch of wealthy Cincinnaitians together to donate be reduced by twice that much the money, but they decide "why just rebuild next fiscal year (which starts tomorrow), so Benson & Clayton try to find a way to spend it before the kitchen when we can build them a whole new shelter?" One man will donate a plot of land he has sitting around and a couple of others donate $150K for building it. Then the users end of the shelter show up, day. In the end Benson decides that's stupid, and point out just announces that they don't need nor want a new building, especially not one in a distant suburb no one can get to via public transportation. What they need is to have the shelter's kitchen rebuilt.a surplus.
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode, "Dear Truman," the staff of the 4077 are visited by a senior office who offers increased support for the field hospital as long as he sees some increased effort in local beautification. Col. Potter, after getting his jaw back after hearing something so stupid in a war zone, angrily protests that this flies in the face of medical and military priorities, but the visiting officer will not be persuaded otherwise and the camp has to play along.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for being the former 18-year-old mayor of his small town. One of the decisions that led to his impeachment was that he attempted to build a state-of-the-art ice skating rink facility. This results in people questioning his ability to be a state auditor.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for being the former 18-year-old mayor of his small town. One of the decisions that led to his impeachment was that he attempted to build a state-of-the-art ice skating rink facility. This results in people questioning his ability to be a state auditor.
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* In ''Series/{{Benson}}'', federal auditors discover an unexpected budget surplus of $8 million and insist that the state spend that money or their federal distribution will be reduced by twice that much the next fiscal year (which starts tomorrow), so Benson & Clayton try to find a way to spend it before the end of the day. In the end Benson decides that's stupid, and just announces that they have a surplus.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for being the former 18-year-old mayor of his small town. One of the decisions that led to his impeachment was that he attempted to build a state-of-the-art ice skating rink facility. This results in people questioning his ability to be a state auditor.
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode, "Dear Truman," the staff of the 4077 are visited by a senior office who offers increased support for the field hospital as long as he sees some increased effort in local beautification. Col. Potter, after getting his jaw back after hearing something so stupid in a war zone, angrily protests that this flies in the face of medical and military priorities, but the visiting officer will not be persuaded otherwise and the camp has to play along.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for being the former 18-year-old mayor of his small town. One of the decisions that led to his impeachment was that he attempted to build a state-of-the-art ice skating rink facility. This results in people questioning his ability to be a state auditor.
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode, "Dear Truman," the staff of the 4077 are visited by a senior office who offers increased support for the field hospital as long as he sees some increased effort in local beautification. Col. Potter, after getting his jaw back after hearing something so stupid in a war zone, angrily protests that this flies in the face of medical and military priorities, but the visiting officer will not be persuaded otherwise and the camp has to play along.
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* In ''Series/{{Benson}}'', federal auditors discover Something of this nature is discussed but doesn't actually happen in an unexpected budget surplus episode of $8 million ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''. The local homeless shelter's kitchen catches fire and insist that the state spend that money or their federal distribution it will be reduced by twice that much cost $40,000 to rebuild. Jennifer gets a bunch of wealthy Cincinnaitians together to donate the next fiscal year (which starts tomorrow), so Benson & Clayton try to find a way to spend it before money, but they decide "why just rebuild the end kitchen when we can build them a whole new shelter?" One man will donate a plot of land he has sitting around and a couple of others donate $150K for building it. Then the users of the day. In the end Benson decides that's stupid, shelter show up, and just announces that point out they don't need nor want a new building, especially not one in a distant suburb no one can get to via public transportation. What they need is to have a surplus.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for beingthe former 18-year-old mayor of his small town. One of the decisions that led to his impeachment was that he attempted to build a state-of-the-art ice skating rink facility. This results in people questioning his ability to be a state auditor.
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode, "Dear Truman," the staff of the 4077 are visited by a senior office who offers increased support for the field hospital as long as he sees some increased effort in local beautification. Col. Potter, after getting his jaw back after hearing something so stupid in a war zone, angrily protests that this flies in the face of medical and military priorities, but the visiting officer will not be persuaded otherwise and the camp has to play along.shelter's kitchen rebuilt.
* In ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', Ben is ridiculed for being
* In the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode, "Dear Truman," the staff of the 4077 are visited by a senior office who offers increased support for the field hospital as long as he sees some increased effort in local beautification. Col. Potter, after getting his jaw back after hearing something so stupid in a war zone, angrily protests that this flies in the face of medical and military priorities, but the visiting officer will not be persuaded otherwise and the camp has to play along.
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* 2nd edition of ''London'' has the deck split into three sub-sets: money-makers, support cards... and a whole lot of public projects that have zero or close-to-zero application other than a huge amount of points they give in the end. Gameplay-wise, you are burning resources for the sake of the end-game tally, and you might even go as far as to make poverty twice as big of an issue on the way to your personal glory.
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* King Dimwit the Excessive of the ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' series got his nickname for commissioning large numbers of these, such as a flood control dam in a region that was never in danger of flooding and a statue of himself several miles high. He was planning to create an ''artificial continent'' that was shaped like his face when he died. [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics He had to levy a 98% income tax to fund all these projects, which might explain why three civil wars and roughly 16,000 tax riots broke out over the course of his reign.]]
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* This being a game of cynical politics and manipulating the masses, certain projects and structures from ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheWhiteSun'' are openly designed as pork barrel stuff. They either placate people with amenities or simply by being impressive, but they are just as crooked as your government. This is most notable with building irrigation projects in places that really don't benefit from expanding agriculture, but it still sways on your side both the landed gentry and peasants. Some buildings even have it openly stated in the description to be a scam.
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* King Dimwit the Excessive of the ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' series got his nickname for commissioning large numbers of these, such as a flood control dam in a region that was never in danger of flooding and a statue of himself several miles high. He was planning to create an ''artificial continent'' that was shaped like his face when he died. [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics He had to levy a 98% income tax to fund all these projects, which might explain why three civil wars and roughly 16,000 tax riots broke out over the course of his reign.]]
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[[folder:Film - Manga and Anime]]
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